New Career, New Journey

It’s finally happened. Seventeen years after graduating from university as a young, bright-eyed economist, I have retrained and graduated for the second time. This time, as a mature interior designer with an extensive experience in business and life.

I always knew it was going to happen. But ‘when’ was the question. And how willing was I to take the risk? After all, the corporate banking life was comfortable, the paycheque was healthy, and future life security was certain. But happiness and passion? Well, the gruelling work hours, highly political environment, and chauvinistic industry culture was bound to catch up on me some day. I knew I wanted to love my job. So I gave up my securities in life to self-invest and grow.

And here I am world, a newly qualified interior designer with a whole new set of technical knowledge. But I am an unusual package. Whilst another year of young graduates flood the market, all seeking work opportunities from architecture and interior design studios, I find myself not quite fitting in with this crowd. I am not a twenty-something year old with a brain filled with university teachings and little knowing of the diverse, and some controversial, work cultures out there.

Instead, I am a woman who has experienced the highs and lows of businesses, having led teams, worked through multiple recessions, and managed difficult stakeholders. I am a person who knows how to hold oneself in a professional setting. And yet, I am new in the interiors field, a blank canvas itching to be filled. I am unique in what I can offer to a firm, and so I do not quite fit in with the majority of graduates.

These past few months, I have networked with an array of impressive creative directors and partners of various design studios. They seem to recognise the importance of multidisciplinary talent in the industry; but whether these leaders are able to put this into practice and embrace those entering from widely different industry backgrounds? Well, I am a case study yet to be discovered.